Look back at 100 years of holiday memories with a new interactive timeline

Tourism has changed almost beyond recognition in the last century, with previously unimaginable journeys now accessible to more Brits than ever before.

With this in mind, travel specialist loveholidays.com set about sourcing hundreds of holiday memories from Blackpool to Barcelona – illustrating the evolution of British tourism in their holiday memories timeline.

Holiday Memories captures 194 of the UK’s most iconic holiday photos, spanning from 1903 to the present day – taking the user on a visual tour through history, from the British seaside holidays typical of the early 20th century to the more exotic escapes of the present day.

The timeline integrates photos submitted by users and stylised as postcards from that period in time, with personal messages recounting the moment on the reverse. Desktop users can switch from the timeline view to a map view, showing how far British tourism has expanded – with modern holidaymakers sharing memories from as far as Thailand, Cuba and Peru.

Research undertaken to support the timeline highlights the major milestones in British tourism which have transformed it into the industry it is today.

The first real breakthrough for UK holidays came in 1938, when the ‘Holidays with Pay Act’ was passed, guaranteeing regular annual holiday time for all workers in the UK. Before this holidays were generally considered a luxury for the rich. It took over a decade for overseas travel to really take off – with the first package holidays being introduced in 1950, making it easier and more affordable to travel than it had ever been before.

The low-cost airline model came to British airspace for the first time in 1985. Shortly afterwards, the number of holidays abroad taken by residents in the UK surpassed 20 million. Deregulation of EU aviation also began - an important factor in the development of low-cost airlines, allowing airlines to set up bases anywhere in Europe.

Online travel agencies were first introduced in 1995 – revolutionising the way consumers plan, book and pay for their holidays. 238m passengers passed through UK airports in 2014 [3], with the top destinations being Spain (34m), USA (17.9m), Germany (12.5m), Italy (11.9m) and France (10.7m).

Matthew Lawson, e-commerce director at ;oveholidays.com, said: “As travel specialists, we’re always on the lookout for what’s next in UK tourism, but it’s often just as interesting to look back and see how much things have changed. This is what inspired us to launch our Holiday Memories timeline – collating some truly amazing photographs and moments that will now last forever.

“With advancements in technology and aviation, holidays have changed almost beyond recognition and people are travelling further than ever before – but it’s fantastic to see people were having just as much fun back then as they are now!”